Antibiotics resistance : when the armamentarium gets to the verge of being empty

Abstract EN

ntibiotics are arguably considered as one of the greatest milestones and one of the foremost lifesaving interventions in modern medicine.

This is best exemplified by the impact of antibiotics on treatment of common, devastating, serious, and life threatening infections.1 More than 150 antibiotics have been found since the discovery of penicillin and in the last 75 years.2 Unfortunately, this golden era is being threatened by development of resistance hindering the efficacy of antibiotics and making them victims of their own success (and our abuse of them).

Striping the world of effective antibiotics is an impending unwelcomed halt to a wide range of antibiotic reliant medical advances from organ transplant and cancer therapy to implantation of life saving devices and prosthetic surgeries.

We are sadly observing once-treatable infections becoming difficult to treat and at times incurable.

This state of antibiotics ineffectiveness has resulted in an enormous global economic burden to both individuals and societies.